Cooking Pasta at home and then drying it for the trail

Wise Old Owl · Feb 17th 2016, 3:19pm

So information came up that changed my mind about some things about food prep - I mistook the information as a way to save time or fuel on the trail... Clearly its about taste.

Bear this video out I think its spot on. The Angel Hair the remaining water could be dumped and replaced and It would still work.

TJ wrote on another thread (I am Breaking it out)
I tried Barilla Pronto spaghetti this week. It's an interesting pasta in that it absorbs water rather than cooking in water and draining.
CLICK
I cooked this at home and didn't like it. I followed the directions and watched it carefully but at 8 min, the water was completely absorbed and the pasta started sticking to the skillet. It tasted overcooked and slightly mushy, even though it wasn't cooked the full 10 min.
I think it still has interesting trail possibilities but I wouldn't choose it over angle hair pasta or Annie Chun rice noodles.

TJ - I am going to try Barilla Pronto spaghetti at home and give it a Marinara shot. Maybe you went too long or I don't know - maybe practice with it.

JimBlue · Feb 17th 2016, 9:22pm

The thought of dehydrating pasta gives me the twitching, twitching... sorry, I couldn't read it.

Wise Old Owl · Feb 17th 2016, 10:06pm

That's OK Jim... You can still stick to Ramen.... no biggie.

TJ follow these directions, I showed Deanna my wife this video and we are going to do some "dinner tests" - the kids will be the taste testers.

odd man out · Feb 18th 2016, 2:44pm

I saw an article somewhere a few months ago about cooking pasta (don't recall where). The claim was that when you cook pasta, it only takes a minute for the actual cooking. Most of the time is spent rehydrating. The alternate method that was developed was to rehydrate the pasta by soaking in cold water. Once rehydrated, it can be cooked with superior results with just a minute of boiling. This came from a food science field but there was some thought that it could have some applications for backpackers.

Dan76 · Feb 18th 2016, 4:54pm

I use a similar method for rice and/or beans. Pre soaking a few hours prior to mealtime results in a reduced boil time. Imagine this technique will work for pasta.

JimBlue · Feb 18th 2016, 7:53pm

Dan76 wrote:

I use a similar method for rice and/or beans. Pre soaking a few hours prior to mealtime results in a reduced boil time. Imagine this technique will work for pasta.

Sounds interesting. I'll look into it for later this year.

Dan76 · Feb 18th 2016, 11:56pm

JimBlue wrote:

Dan76 wrote:

I use a similar method for rice and/or beans. Pre soaking a few hours prior to mealtime results in a reduced boil time. Imagine this technique will work for pasta.

Sounds interesting. I'll look into it for later this year.

I made chicken rice soup this afternoon and presoaked the brown rice for two hours prior to adding it to the crockpot. After about 10 minutes, the soup was ready to slurp.

odd man out · Feb 19th 2016, 7:20am

for rice I make backpacking meals with basmati rice. It tastes great and cooks quickly. You can bring to boil and then set in cozy for 15 min. No need to pre cook, pre soak, etc.

Socks · Feb 19th 2016, 5:02pm

here's my pasta drying

Wise Old Owl · Feb 21st 2016, 9:05pm

That's cool Socks - how do you bring that on the trail?

Wise Old Owl · Feb 21st 2016, 9:10pm

Deanna and I picked up Barrilla Pronto pasta almost angel hair, and mac and cheese shells for home attempts. So in the next couple of days we will run a few trys to get it right.

On a side note I have the gravel down pat.

I have posted in the past converting Sauce to fruit roll ups to become FBC,,, so we are clearly going Italian for 1 meal on the trail.

I understand this is covered before - I am looking to make it more tasty.

Socks · Feb 21st 2016, 10:12pm

In a baggy I suppose. I like TP Walters method of making the whole thing, pasta and sauce, and then drying the whole shootin' match to then rehydrate on trail.

Wise Old Owl · Feb 21st 2016, 11:20pm

socks wrote:

In a baggy I suppose. I like TP Walters method of making the whole thing, pasta and sauce, and then drying the whole shootin' match to then rehydrate on trail.

The new pasta would not need drying... just the meat and "Italian Gravy" as spoken in Philadelphia other places call it sauce. I am looking for time savers that deliver better quality flavored food. Sock's its a work in progress - right now I am working on GPS and Backpacking Video right now.

Socks · Feb 22nd 2016, 10:05am

Oh ya want flavor? Ok, bring

1 medium size egg
1 1/4 cup semolina flour
2 Tbs. Water
Mix the egg with one cup flour in baggy by the "no messy hands" squishy method, ka-need it into a ball for about five-8 min (ya may need to add an additional tsp. of water depending on weather conditons) let sit coverd for 20 min. Don't skip the ka-needing/or resting, very important sciencey stuff. Using the additional flour as needed, Smash flat and roll with a smooth stick to a thickness of about 3/32 no more than 1/8" (stick =small wooden dowel you fashioned or brought) cut into 3/16" strips, cooks alldoneh' in 3 to 5 mins. Add gravy or olive oil or butter, thru-hikers will water at the mouth and you'll be king mucky muck. Bone appetite!

Footnote, stick with the kneeding, it will look dry and hopeless, but it will come together.

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